Joe Morris’ neighbor knocked on his door one day in 1955 and suggested he join the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department.
“He lived across the street and ran the gas station across from the firehouse,” said Morris, 87. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Morris had recently moved to the unincorporated Bayview neighborhood in Manhasset with his new bride, Anne, a Manhasset native.
A Korean War-era veteran now working for the former Long Island Lighting Company, a precursor to the Long Island Power Authority, Morris went out with Company No. 1, driving trucks and extending fire hoses.
He did that until 1999, when his doctor told him he could no longer drive.
These days, 60 years after he began volunteering as a firefighter, he said he still goes out on call, “direct[ing] traffic.”
“I just love the fire department,” he said. “I never belonged to anything else, just the fire department.”
Morris in early July was among eight Manhasset-Lakeville firefighters who were honored by state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) for longtime service to the department.
“These men epitomize the bravery, selflessness and dedication that make our volunteer firefighters so special,” Martins said. “As leaders of the department, they have put their heart and soul into serving the residents of the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire District.”
Morris graduated from Glen Cove High School in 1946 and was drafted into the Army in 1950, reaching the rank of sergeant first class.
He was sent to Greenland as part of Operation Blue Jay, the code name given to the construction of the Thule Air Base, rather than to Korea.
Morris and Anne had three children, sons Brian, now a commissioner of the Manhasset-Lakeville Water and Fire District; and Jeff, a member of Port Washington; and daughter Sharon Pritchard, of Oswego.
Each of them, like dad before them, became volunteer firefighters.
“It’s hard to get young people to join up,” he said.
Awards from Morris’ decades of firefighting line the walls of his living room. Boxes of trophies sit on tables in his dining room.
Photos of his family in uniform adorn the mantel above his fireplace.
From 1983-85, Morris served as chief of department, and a few years later he was president of the department from 1988-90.
He has also belonged to several local and regional fire safety organizations over the years, including the Nassau County Firemen’s Association and the Fire Chiefs Council of Nassau County.
“I spent so much time around the firehouse I figured I might as well try to make things better for the department,” Morris said.
